Economics With A Face

The driver got a bit turned around when we were looking for the hotel and as he was flipping a U-turn in the intersection a 18 year old kid came up and asked where we were going. When the driver told him the name of the hotel he handed us a business card of the same hotel through the back window and then took off in a sprint towards the place. The driver tried to beat him in a race for the commission but we all arrived at the same time. The elderly lady who ran the place had me testify as to exactly what happened and in the end the taxi driver walked with the commission. I gave the young guy the change in my pocket so he wouldn’t walk away empty handed but he was still disappointed with the outcome.

When asked about a good place to eat we were again warned about getting robbed in the neighborhood and were told to only take enough money for lunch and to leave all valuables locked in the room. That way if we did get robbed we wouldn’t lose too much. Not the type of neighborhood I really wanted to be in and to my surprise the guidebook said nothing about any kind of danger.

We walked down the street and found a good buffet and had a good meal. On the way back I found a place to get a haircut, which I desperately needed, so I found out how much it was and ran back to the hotel to grab some more cash. Eveling, the girl who cut my hair, confirmed as well that the neighborhood had gotten worse in the last year, which explained why the guidebook said nothing about any kind of danger. Luckily there have not been any cases of anyone getting hurt, that these kids will flash a knife to scare tourists, and then take their cash but if you told them no and then walked off they most likely wouldn’t do a thing. She said that the police had been more lax about crime in the area recently but it didn’t have anything to do with a change in political parties. She also said that poverty was the excuse people used but at the same time there were a lot of these kids that just didn’t want to work. As an example, she said the other day she was washing windows outside the shop and a kid walked up and asked for a cordoba. When she replied that she would give him five cordobas if he would help her he replied that he asked her to give him money, not a job.

That night at dinner around the corner we ran into the brother and sister traveling together from Japan that we had met in Guatemala. They were in Managua for just one night as well and we staying at a place just a block away. No one had told them the neighborhood was dangerous so we debriefed them on the situation. In another example of the poverty around this area a kid came up to us as we finished our meal and had us scrape our leftovers into a bag for him to eat. We gave him the food and some cash as well although he didn’t ask for any money. It’s a tough life here without many opportunities.

After dinner we exchanged emails at our hotel and then said goodnight. Tomorrow we have a tour planned at 9:00pm of the city. It should be interesting to compare it to San Salvador.